This Tacoma bank heist started with a rock and a not-so-bright idea, police say

Rock in his hand, the would-be bank robber concocted a smashing idea on Wednesday.

The man took the rock, broke out a Central Tacoma bank's glass door and walked through the hole, Pierce County prosecutors say. And then it got weirder.

The man tried to hold up a customer, then tried to smash out the bulletproof glass with the rock before taking a bank bag and fleeing, charging documents say. After a brief chase on foot, he was arrested.

The 23-year-old, who has no permanent address, was arraigned Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court on charges of first-degree robbery and attempted first-degree robbery. His bail was set at $50,000.

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The man was wandering around homes near South 23rd Street and South Union Avenue in Tacoma on Thursday when a resident saw him throw rocks through the windows of several homes. The resident called 911 and followed the man.

The man then went to the bank on Union Avenue, threw a large rock through the glass door of the bank and walked through his newly created portal. He then approached a customer and demanded money from him, but the customer said he didn't work there and was waiting to see a teller.

The man then went up to the tellers, who work behind bulletproof glass, and demanded money from them. When they didn't comply, he started smashing his rock against the glass, which he did four times with no effect.

He then spotted a bank bag sitting on a desk in the lobby, which he grabbed before fleeing the bank with a knife in his hand.

Tacoma police officers caught up with the man on Union Avenue beneath the state Route 16 overpasses and tried to pin him with two patrol vehicles, but he was able to slip away before being arrested in a residential area nearby. A large knife was found along the route he used to flee the officers.

The officers attempted to interview him, but he was speaking nonsense.

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